Member Article

Manchester praised for business friendliness and connectivity in FT report

Manchester’s reputation as a global business location has been lifted by its inclusion in the renowned Financial Times’ fDi magazine ‘Global Cities of the Future 2014/15’ report.

The report analysed 130 cities - which together account for over one-third of all global foreign direct investment – on measures such cost effectiveness, connectivity and economic potential.

Manchester was ranked in the ‘large cities’ category, based on having a city population over 500,000 and fewer than 750,000.

Other cities within this category include Dublin, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Abu Dhabi.

The city was specifically singled out for business friendliness where it ranked second place.

This acknowledged Manchester as having a high proportion of companies in the knowledge based and hi-tech manufacturing sectors as well as a high number of jobs created through FDI, low corporation tax rates, a good number of FT Global 500 companies doing business and the average number of days taken to start a business here, amongst various other criteria.

Manchester also ranked within the top ten large cities for connectivity which assessed digital, telecomms and international travel connectivity as well as the quality of overall infrastructure.

Manchester was the only UK non-capital city to feature in the report.

Chief executive of MIDAS, Manchester’s inward investment agency, Tim Newns, said: “Whilst we are extremely pleased to be included in reports like this, it is particularly pleasing to see that we are ranked against global cities with such excellent business reputations as Frankfurt, Dublin, Vancouver, Abu Dhabi and Amsterdam.

“Recently a lot of fuel has been added to the ‘UK second city’ debate, as Manchester begins to outline plans for devolution and takes the spotlight in the Government’s plans for a Northern Powerhouse, but as we’ve been saying for a number of years, our real competition lies with these cities and we need to use our moment in the spotlight to continue to build credibility on the global stage.

“That London also ranks so highly is a huge advantage for us – it came second in the overall table and that level of confidence in the UK as a business location can only serve to benefit cities like Manchester as established investors look to ‘northshore’ their business in cost-effective, high quality business locations.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sophia Taha .